Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and can't get money for this, but I can make him into a Mafia Prince.
Warning: Some chapters (the ones including pranks) might not be appropriate to read at work. Laughter may ensue leading your co-workers to see you as even more insane than they previously thought.
Chapter 11: The Burdens of Albus
Albus Dumbledore sighed and took a deep sip of his fire-whiskey, he had spent all night at Number 4 Privet Drive and a nearby hospice trying to figure out what was going on and the things that he had discovered had served only to make the burden on his aging shoulders heavier. Two nights before there had been a disturbance with the wards surrounding the house at Privet Drive where Harry Potter lived with his aunt and uncle, the wards had actually seemed to strengthen like they had never done before and for a moment he had feared Harry was in danger but then everything had suddenly stabilized and been fine. Running a quick magical test Albus had found Harry to be at the house, safe and well, no sign of excess magical signatures anywhere in the vicinity so he had foolishly ignored the alarm.
Then last night the wards had suddenly crashed sending Dumbledore into a panic, this couldn't be happening so close to September first, so close to Harry's arrival at the safety of Hogwarts. Something was wrong with Harry, their hope and savior; Lily and James' son. Albus couldn't remember the last time he had run so fast to the apparition point but suspected that it had been that night almost ten years ago on Halloween night. Albus had smartly apparated a few streets away and ran to the Dursley residence to find the house and surrounding property cordoned off with bright yellow tape with muggle authorities pacing around it in agitation. It was the night shift guarding the house and from what Albus could overhear the crime had occurred the night before at around the same time there had been a disturbance in the wards. From what Albus could tell from extending his senses to the linger magic in the air the wards had vainly tried to maintain themselves after the disturbance had occurred but without a sane blood relative in residence the wards had finally collapsed this evening.
Casting numerous invisibility and silencing charms on himself as well as muggle repelling charms Albus had snuck closer to the house and slipped inside. What he saw caused a shiver of fear to run down his spine. Along one of the walls near the steps there were vivid red stains spattered across the paint as well as what appeared to be tiny pieces of shredded flesh at about the height of a man's head. On the pale beige carpet directly below the spattered streaks of blood that colored the previously pristine walls were more blood stains from where the body had fallen in a messy heap as well as some marks that emitted an odor faintly reminiscent of a latrine. His sharp eyesight kicking into overdrive Albus continued to search around and at one point on the wall behind the stairs there could be seen the imprints of where a woman's fingernails had gouged into the plastered wall, blood lightly filling the grooves where the fingers had split from the force placed upon them.
Nothing in the rest of the house was disturbed and it seemed as if the child's room had not been entered at all.
"Where are you Harry," Albus sighed, in his thorough search not noticing that the only pictures of a child in the house contained a large blonde boy reminiscent of an over-inflated beach-ball.
Realizing that the house could tell him nothing Albus took to eavesdropping on the muggle authorities who just happened to be talking while taking an alcohol laced coffee break.
"Shame really," one officer was saying in a confidential tone to his partner, "the man was killed while the woman watched on. Medics said she was screaming something bloody crazy when they hauled her out of there. The wench was trying to claw her own eyes out, they have her sedated and restrained in the padded ward at the hospice. That poor boy too, having to sit in that hospital with his mother while they try and figure out what to do with him; social services be called soon. At least the boy wasn't here when it all happened."
Albus felt as if the deities had smiled upon him and thanked Merlin and whoever else would listen for leaving such obviously untrained officers on duty tonight, they had just saved him a load of work by wagging their loose tongues. Using Legilimency Albus pried the location of the hospice from the mind of the officer that was slightly less drunk than his companion and apparated, changing into a muggle suit as he did; no need to attract more attention then he had to, not that the overly long beard and outrageous colors of his suit helped him blend in all that much. Thankfully the halls were dim and empty leaving Albus with no problems as he snuck past the nurses on duty and finally found himself at the ward he had heard spoken of. Bypassing the locks on the doors with a simple 'alohomora' Albus found himself standing next to the bed of a distraught woman who was strapped down with soft, heavy gloves on her hands that were obvious precautions to keep her from tearing at the bandages fastened around her head. Where her eyes would be if not for the heavy bandages a faint hint of blood could be seen seeping through. The woman kept mumbling and trying to thrash about even though an IV drip kept her heavily sedated.
"Lily," the woman, Harry's aunt, half-muttered and half-screamed, "no, not Lily, not Lily's eyes. Sorry Lily…no…"
Shaking his head sadly Albus moved to the next bed over where he could see a child huddled, many blankets piled over him to form a protective padding, most likely a physical form of protection that the child needed for his mind though in truth it served to make the child look more fat than protected. Albus felt sorry for young Harry. He had lost his parents when only a year old, now his uncle was dead and his aunt had most likely lost her mind for good. Gently Albus moved some of the covers away from the boy's slumbering body, wanting to catch a glance at Harry's face while he was asleep and without the past days trauma weighting him down. What he found shocked him to no end. The boy beneath the covers was not Harry Potter and did not look a thing like Harry Potter would have.
Moving over the night table next to the hospital bed Albus picked up the hospital identification card that was lying there with shaking hands. Dudley Dursley the card read, age eleven. Albus dropped the card back where he had found it and a frown crossed his face.
This was Harry's cousin then. But if he was here then where was Harry, the officers at Number 4 Privet Drive had only mentioned one boy. Where was Harry? Had he been taken? Was he still alive? A noise rang out in the corridor and Albus realized the night crew was making their last rounds before the change in shifts. Not knowing what else to do, but knowing he would discover no more where he was, Albus apparated as close as he could to Hogwarts and made the slow journey back to his office to pour himself a shot of fire-whiskey and sit dejectedly while Fawkes hovered near his shoulder piping up occasionally to offer comfort as only a Phoenix could.
Albus Dumbledore, proclaimed greatest and most powerful wizard of the time spent the rest of the day going over everything he had seen and heard only to realized belatedly that it had not appeared that Harry had ever lived at Number 4 Privet Drive. He should have checked up on the boy on occasion instead of just leaving him with his relatives while hoping all went well and they heeded the letter he had left. He shouldn't have placed so much faith in the wards. He had known that the wards would remain constant until the summer of Harry's eleventh birthday due to the powerful nature of the blood spells, only after that would Harry's presence be required to sustain the wards; he should have checked to make sure Harry was actually living on Privet Drive sooner. He should have set up a wizard in the area to check up on young Harry…
This was how Severus Snape found the Headmaster of Hogwarts when he entered Albus' office after the dinner hour with the barest of knocks. Not bothering to sit or even wonder why Albus was indulging in spirits he launched straight into his account, not knowing how badly it would rattle the already shaken Albus.
"While at Diagon Alley today I saw the precious boy-who-lived and a man I suppose to be his uncle," Severus sneered, "you will be pleased to know he seems content."
Turning Severus made to leave before Albus could reply, his duty done, only to whirl back at the crystalline sound of shattering glass.
Albus' hand twitched as what Severus said sunk in and the glass fell to the floor, shattering into a million sharp and sparkly pieces coated in a caustic amber liquid.
"This is not possible," Albus' raspy whisper filled the silence that had pervaded the room, "his uncle was murdered two nights ago and I wasn't able to find a trace of Harry anywhere, there was no sign he even existed at Privet Drive."
Albus downcast eyes rose to face Severus Snape's shocked expression and a new light bloomed in their twinkling blue depths, "tell me everything you know, everything you heard and saw."
And Severus did, not leaving anything out. He told of his run in with Trevor Zabini and his daughter Blaise where he caught his first sight of the Potter brat. He told Albus how Potter had looked and how from Trevor's statements it was a given to assume that Harry was coming to Hogwarts. Then he told of the nameless muggle man he had assumed to be Harry's uncle, but without a name they didn't have much to go on and because of the protection spells cast on Harry as a baby locating charms did would not work on the boy. So they tried to cast location charms for Trevor but it seemed that the crafty Slytherin wizard had also taken precautions when he left the wizarding world and neither he nor his daughter could be traced.
In the weeks before term started a few trusted members of Hogwart's teaching staff such as Severus, Minerva, Hagrid, and Filius were sent out to make a discreet search for the missing boy-who-lived as well as to try and locate Trevor and Blaise Zabini who had been last seen with Harry in Diagon Alley. But each time they returned empty handed from not having any real leads to work with when they started. Yet Albus now had hope, he just knew that Harry Potter was still alive and if he had been seen alive and well in Diagon Alley not but two days after the murder of his uncle then surely he must be coming to Hogwarts. They would just have to wait until September 1st and hope that Harry Potter was aboard the Hogwarts Express along with all the other students making their way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Then a very serious talk would have to take place to find where Harry Potter had been if not with his aunt and uncle, they could not afford to lose tabs on the savior of the wizarding world, they could not afford to have him outside of their control where the dark forces that inhabited this world could try and lay claim to him.